A Little Light Reading
by Salome Weil
Summary: Draco discovers, to his glee, that Hermione occasionally indulges in young adult drivel of the fantasy type and proceeds to pester her. T for very mild sexual reference. AU for anachronism. Oneshot!


**Disclaimer: I don't own HP, nor make any money off this fiction. (Argelfraster!)**

**AN: Ten points if you get the reference I just made. As to this oneshot, well, I was inspired. (What can I say? It happens often.) What if, ignoring the canon timeline, _Twilight_ had been published whilst our favorite trio was at school? I imagine Hermione did, occasionally, read normal muggle books. I think she was brilliant enough to keep up with her studies and do some leisure reading at the same time, don't you? So, without further ado, I present: Draco pesters Hermione over her choice of reading material.**

* * *

Draco watched Hermione from across the courtyard, listening to Crabbe with only half an ear as he contemplated the brilliant, if mental, Gryffindor. After all, she liked Weasley- that couldn't possibly be the behavior of a rational girl, could it? She had her nose buried in some book at the moment, a piece of her frizzy hair stuck in her mouth as she chewed on it desperately, obviously completely entrenched in the plot of whatever book it was. Probably an account of the Centaur Rebellion of 1732. He never imagined, even for a second, that it could be a romance novel.

Hermione Granger, he thought, simply didn't do anything that interesting. Sucking on her hair was probably the most tantalizing thing she ever did, aside from the way she occasionally traded a fingernail for the hair.

Not that he was paying that close attention.

"Well, see you later, Malfoy," Crabbe said. "Dinner at six?"

"Huh, yeah," Draco replied, turning his attention back to his friend. He coolly watched Crabbe walk away with Pansy dogging him (who'd ever seen _that_ coming?) and then turned back to Hermione. She was still sitting there, reading as if her life depended on it. He glanced about the half empty courtyard, didn't see her watchdogs, and started across to her.

She didn't notice his approach until he was already upon her and snatching the book from her hands. She made a noise of protest and stood up, grabbing at the book, but he sidestepped her easily and held the book out of reach.

"What are we reading, Granger? A tawdry romance? No, sorry, I must be confusing you with Pansy. Probably one of those stuffy tomes you're always carting about…" his voice trailed off as he actually lowered the book and looked at the cover. He was so confused he didn't see her leveling her wand at him.

"Accio book!" she squeaked out and the book flew out of his hands, landing in her outstretched ones. Then, before he could make another move she had shoved it in her bag and was hurrying away from him without a backward glance.

* * *

Two days later he spotted her again, this time in an upper corridor's window, crouched against the seat with her knees drawn up to her chest, hair once more firmly in her mouth. So, she'd traded reading spots in the hopes of avoiding him. He smirked and approached her again, this time with more stealth. He glanced over her shoulder and his eyes were halfway down the second page when she realized there was someone standing over her.

She turned her head and jumped, hastily shutting the book and shoving it in her bag again.

He grinned as he watched her scramble to her feet. "So, vampires, Granger? I didn't think you were the sort to go in for that," he said snidely.

"Bugger off," she muttered at him as she started down the hallway, book sack flung over her shoulder. He followed her, his longer legs easily catching him up.

"Did that last night, thanks," he replied and she made a disgusted face, rolling her eyes heavenwards. "What the hell is _Twilight_, anyway?" he asked her, interested despite himself. "I didn't think you were the-"

"You said that already," she pointed out, frowning. "Leave me alone, Draco," she added when he continued to follow her.

"No. So? What is it? Some sort of blood-play romance?"

"That's disgusting," she replied and he smirked again.

"More disgusting than the thought of me-"

"Shut _up_," she hissed. "And leave me the hell alone!"

"Not until you tell me what that book is," he responded calmly.

"It's just a stupid young adult novel by a muggle author," she bit out. "Now leave me alone!"

"I've never seen you reading that sort of stuff before."

She gave him a strange glance. "You notice what I read?"

"Half the time it's books I wanted to check out, myself," he admitted. "So don't think of that as some bizarre compliment. I'm not watching you like you're some tasty morsel the way that Edward fellow apparently does. Which," he felt the need to point out, "is not very nice behavior." Any girl would have to be mental to actually like that kind of stalkerish relationship, he thought. Then again, he'd already established that Hermione was, indeed, a bit mental. She liked Weasley, he reminded himself.

She sighed and her steps slowed to a stop. She turned to face him, looking anywhere but. "It was a Christmas gift. My mother likes me to keep up with the muggle side of things. That's all."

"Really?" he asked, voice uncertain. "Because it looked an awful lot like you were enjoying it."

At that, she finally turned her gaze on him. Her eyes were angry at his intrusion into her life. "So I'm a normal teenaged girl who likes to read star-crossed romance novels, so what? It's not of anybody's business but my own."

"You should try _Romeo and Juliet_," he snorted.

"I prefer _Hamlet_, actually," she responded angrily.

"Wow," he whistled. "The Dane and Ophelia. That isn't so much star-crossed as borderline abusive, Granger. So, does this Bella character kill herself, too?"

"I don't know, I haven't finished it yet, have I? Someone keeps interrupting me!" she replied, exasperated, flapping her arm at him.

He held up his hands and grinned, an evil glint in his eyes. "Is that why the binding is broken all the way through? Because you haven't finished it yet?"

"Augh!" she exclaimed and started moving again, stomping away from him as quickly as she could. He continued to keep up with her easily, the smirk firmly in place.

"So, does your heart skip a beat thinking of the dreamy, sodding Edward stalking you down the halls of Hogwarts?"

"He is not- oh, why am I even talking to you about this? It's not like you care- you're just tormenting me for the fun of it! Can't you go find Ron, or Harry, or something?"

"But I thought you liked boys who stalked you," he said dryly. "Seems to me that's what that Edward git was doing."

"He- oh, never mind. Go away, Draco." She stopped again, glaring at him, her brows drawn together as she contemplated him. Suddenly, her expression cleared and he took a step back.

"What?" he asked, feeling his hackles rise as she continued to look at him quietly, nonplussed.

"Nothing," she replied. "Goodbye, Draco. See you in Potions."

When she walked away this time, he didn't follow her. Instead, he stared after her a moment, puzzled and suddenly upset. With a snarl he shoved his hands in his pockets and spun on his heel, heading the opposite direction. Seconds later, the corner of his mouth quirked up again. Vampires and _Hamlet_, eh?

Interesting.

More interesting than it should have been, but there it was. The quirk turned into a full scale smirk and he found himself whistling. Maybe he'd try reading the trashy book as well. Might give him some more insight into that bushy-haired , shouldn't-be-so-interesting mud blood's head.

He frowned again with force and kept walking.

* * *

**AN: And...fini! Well, I thought it was cute and had fun writing it. Hope you enjoyed it!**


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